List of science reports that are relevant to the derivation of SGV, the CLEA framework reports, and assessment of risks to health from land contamination.

A note about bioaccessibility

The Environment Agency has published several research reports on oral bioaccessibility for soil contaminants and on the development of in vitro tests. Such tests should be used cautiously in assessing risks to health since the relationship between measured bioaccessibility and the relative human biological availability / toxicity of contaminants remains uncertain. The Environment Agency are not able to recommend any specific test. Provided such testing has been carried out in accordance with guidelines for good practice, the results may be useful for arsenic as part of a "lines of evidence approach" to evaluating site-specific risk including the sensitivity of any quantitative risk assessment.

A "lines of evidence approach" means that no single piece of evidence, such as the outcome of an in vitro test should be solely relied on to make a decision about health risks. But alongside other investigations and considerations, such as a greater understanding of soil chemistry, in vitro tests may inform a site-specific risk evaluation.

Industry Profiles

SGV Reports and supplementary information for specific chemicals and groups of chemicals are available for download here.

We recommend that professionals using SGV Reports are familiar with the information in the framework reports and the introductory guide available below. SGV Reports published before 2008 have been withdrawn. They were prepared using previous framework guidance (R&D Publications CLR7 – 10) published in 2002, which has been superseded.

Soil Guideline Values

Heavy metals and other inorganic compounds

Soil Guideline Value for nickel in soil (PDF, 139 KB) ***The Environment Agency withdrew the SGV and associated reports for nickel in 2015 following the release of new information by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on the health risks from nickel. The withdrawn report is included here for reference******

Soil Guideline Value for mercury in soil (PDF, 220 KB) ***The Environment Agency withdrew the SGV and associated reports for mercury in November 2018 following discussions with PHE and the release of new information by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on the health risks from mercury. The withdrawn report is included here for reference ******

TOX Reports describe the toxicology of specific chemicals or groups of chemicals and recommend health criteria values (HCV) for use in the derivation of Soil Guideline Values.

HCV describe the levels at which long-term human exposure to chemicals in soil is tolerable or poses a minimal risk.

TOX Reports have been prepared in accordance with the CLEA framework reports from a review of published literature and expert group evaluations. We have closely involved the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and Food Standards Agency (FSA) in preparation of these documents.

Other organic compounds

Older TOX Reports (prior to 2009)

EA published a new framework report for preparing TOX Reports in 2009. The following TOX Reports were published between 2002 and 2008, and follow older guidance (R&D Publication CLR9) that has now been withdrawn. Much of the existing information is still useful for understanding the toxicity of these chemicals but care should be taken in using the derived HCV in assessing health risks from land contamination. Assessors should consider whether more recent evaluations of the toxicity of these chemicals have been published by other authoritative organisations.